My first blog chronicled my experiences over three years caring for my dad as he lived through and finally died from Alzheimer's. That is the book that is for sale.

This second blog kind of chronicles of life, what it is like to start your life over in your late 50's. After caretaking, you are damaged, file bankruptcy, and the world doesn't care what you did. After 8 months of unemployment, you wake each day knowing the world doesn't want you. Finally you do find a job, 5 weeks before homelessness, but doing what you did 30 years ago and getting paid what you did 30 years ago. So this is starting over.

The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.

Saturday, November 1, 2014

I AM NAZARENE

Ever go thru a period at work or in life where you feel totally incompetent? I'm having one of those periods right now; on going problems I can't figure out, an upset customer who has called me all sorts of names and threatening to write a letter to the prez about how bad I am because she can't remember her password, doesn't know her security question, and can't get the email to reset a password because she doesn't remember that password either and the only phone that had the email on it is the phone that is not working.

Only other time I ever remember feeling this incompetent was one time when I went home with a waitress and saw she had a copy of a book, called the Karma Supra or something and I thought it was a book about VW and Toyota working on a car together. Boy, was I wrong.

But that would have sure been a seriously cool car.

So Cub fans are seriously excited, hiring Joe Madden as their new manager. Never mind their current manager did a pretty good job this year, was given a total support and will be back next year and then dumped like some high school girl gets dumped by her guy after a cheerleader asks him out. And Cub fans are like this is it, they are going to make the World Series.

Unfortunately, Joe Madden has just entered the twilight zone of managers and will learn what many a great baseball man has learned in the past; Wrigley is where great genius managers go to die. Going to be fun to watch, for this Sox fan.

I got my new shirt from Voice of the Martyrs yesterday. It has the aramaic letter 'N' on the front. That is what ISIS is painting on the doors of houses where Christians live in Iraq and Syria, for Nazarene, to mark those people Christian for death. So now I can proudly wear that around and hope some islamic idiot takes offense. But mostly to remind other Christians, though it might be lost on many.

In my studies, I often wonder about churches and denominations. There are many things I admire, for example, of Catholics, but there is so much I disagree with and have troubles understanding how a catholic just shrugs it off. But many Evangelicals treat the catholic church like it is some sort of evil empire, just waiting to develop the Death Star or something.

I take this from The Deacon's Bench:

In an i-phone recording of the meeting, published on the Ark Community website, Pope Francis thanks Palmer’s widow and the new leader of the community, Archbishop Robert Wise, for carrying forward the dream of walking together in communion. “We are sinning against Christ’s will” the Pope says, “because we continue to focus on our differences,” but “our shared baptism is more important than our differences.”

While the devil, the “father of lies” divides us, the Pope continues, we are called to preach the Gospel in every corner of the earth, with the certainty that He is with us. “We each have in our Churches excellent theologians,” the Pope says, “but we shouldn’t wait for them to reach agreement.”

I read that with agreement and a forewarning of danger. Denominations do spend too much time on the differences; in fact, when you think about it, a Bible thumping baptist probably has more in common with a serious catholic than he does with a new england american baptist. Yet what would it look like if all the denominations came together? There are many denominations today, sects within denominations, so how will that pan out? Woman priests? Abortion?

Do you realize the differences in interpretations we face? The catholics for centuries have turned just about everything into the Bible to allegory, except the part in John where Jesus says eat my flesh and drink my blood in John 6 literally; but at the last supper Jesus shows represents - if it were literal in John 6, then why didn't Jesus let each of them take a bite? Evangelicals take everything so literal without reading between the lines, how do these come together? Then each denomination have branches that are so culturally changed that when they get done removing things from the Bible that do not fit our culture the Bible will become a 99 cent short story on Kindle.

Is this what God wanted?

Fundies take Genesis 1 literally. The problem is when you read between the lines, what is not known? For example, after God knocked Adam out, took a rib, and made Eve, how long passed between then and when Eve took her stroll down the Garden path and met Satan? A week? A month? Ten thousand years? Let's face it, if you are immortal, do you count your birthdays? Why would you? When did Lucifer and those angels revolt? After God made it all and said it was good, or long before which is why the earth was without form and void?

Others just write it all off as a story, no basis in reality.

There are common grounds between some areas of each denomination, but if the same denomination cannot agree on anything, how would all the denominations ever come to agreement? Let's face it, by 200 AD, the church had divided up already. What started as 5 main churches, all on the same page, in Ethiopia, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Rome. And they all split apart, first Rome, then the others split up or were wiped out. Smaller areas and churches formed, getting back to the basics, and when the church in Rome started losing debates and stuff, they came up with the wonderful solution of genocide to wipe out entire areas of 'non believers' and heretics.

We can't even agree on Bible books. I love asking the KJV believers who insist that the KJV is the one good Bible, why their copy only has 66 books, when the original had over 80. Most get very confused - but the truth is there were over 80 books. The same pastors who gladly use Josephus in sermons to quote history cringe at Jasher or Enoch.

I don't know. I just don't see a whole lot of good coming out of a whole lot of compromising. When consensus is being gained, it usually means that a whole lot of people are about to be conned out of their senses.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,When sorrows like sea billows roll;Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,It is well, with my soul,It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,Let this blest assurance control,That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

It is well, with my soul,It is well, with my soul,It is well, it is well, with my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!My sin, not in part but the whole,Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

It is well, with my soul,It is well, with my soul,It is well, it is well, with my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,Even so, it is well with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,It is well, with my soul,It is well, it is well, with my soul.